London Olympics

With the Shanghai Championships behind him ("Wait for London, Phelps Declares" Aug. 1), Michael Phelps and his coach, Bob Bowman, have a year to get our Baltimore Olympic star back on top. Mr. Phelps thrives on competition, and a few defeats only inspire him to become faster and stronger. Besides, every time Ryan Lochte handed Mr. Phelps a narrow defeat last week, it was after Mr. Lochte had a day of rest, while Mr. Phelps was competing in race after race as he always does. Until Mr. Lochte competes in as many races as Mr. Phelps, a few wins on his part will never outshine Baltimore's eight gold medal Olympic winner.

MESA, ARIZ. - Michael Phelps couldn't say it enough times, even joking that he would bore questioners with his repetitive explanation for returning to competitive swimming. “I'm having fun,” he answered over and over Wednesday in his first public remarks since his comeback became official last week. Phelps, 28, will swim at the Mesa Grand Prix Thursday, his first race since he won his record-setting 18th gold medal at the 2012 Olympics. He said then he'd never be back, that he'd be relieved to live away from the pool for the first time in his life.

The darkened arena pulsed with anticipation, the thousands of spectators roaring and their cameras flashing like giant fireflies as the boxers swaggered in, punching the air, bouncing on the balls of their feet and glaring like gladiators. And then, the chanting started for the favorite of this particular crowd: "Katie!" "Katie!" "Katie!" Despite the deafening cheers - officials at the ExCel Arena said it was one of loudest crowds of the Games so far at 113.7 decibels - you might also have heard a glass ceiling shattering: Boxing, the last Summer Olympics sport to be limited to men, opened its ranks to women for the first time here.

George Herman Ruth Jr., the pride of Pigtown, stayed in the game too long. In his last season and playing for the Boston Braves in 1935, the legendary Babe batted .181, could barely trot around the bases and stuck around mostly because he thought he'd be offered the manager's job, which he wasn't. The greatest baseball player in history retired just two months into his worst season playing for one of the losingest teams in the modern era. The sporting world is filled with cautionary tales of athletes who retired too late or staged unsuccessful comebacks.

You know how they say there's no crying in baseball? Apparently they haven't gotten that message at the London Olympics. Have you ever seen so much blubbering in your life? These athletes cry tears of joy when they win. They cry tears of sorrow when they lose. They cry tears of frustration when they go on morning talk shows to talk about how upset they are about what's being written about them. (Yes, Lolo Jones, we're talking about you. Although if I were you, I'd probably cry, too. More on that in a minute.)

Former Broadneck track and field star Matthew Centrowitz gave up his senior year of eligibility at Oregon in November to turn professional and improve his chances of qualifying for the 2012 Olympics in London. On Sunday, Centrowitz could look back on that difficult decision and know he made the right one. At the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Ore., Sunday, Centrowitz took the lead early in the final lap of the 1,500 meters, but was passed with about 25 meters to go by U.S. Olympic veteran Leonel Manzano.

While the first official test event for the 2012 Olympics was taking place nearby, local sports fans Neal Weekes and Gordon Cunningham were talking about the Summer Games over a beer at the Mitre Hotel pub in Greenwich. "Greatest thing ever to happen to London," Weekes said. "Wouldn't any city in the world want to have the Olympic Games?" Weekes said he had applied for $14,000 worth of Olympic tickets. The controversial ticket lottery gave him $1,600 in seats for swimming, basketball and the men's soccer final.

Maybe the best way to cut through all the spin and counterspin on the Olympics is this: Last week, NBC was saying it would lose money on the Olympics. Yesterday, it said it might break even. Today, the network is saying it could turn a profit on the $1.18 billion investment. "Yeah, we think there's a small chance, a chance we could make a little bit of money over the next couple of weeks," Mark Lazarus, chairman of the NBC Sports Group, said in a conference call from London Thursday when asked if the network might turn a profit on the games.

On a quiet Friday morning in a West Baltimore gym above the Cash USA pawnshop, Franchon Crews unleashes a powerful flurry outside the ring. "It's been a long, a long time coming," she roars. "But I know change gonna come, oh yes it did. " Her final breath floods the room. "Sorry, that's my own little version," she says in a nearly-empty UMAR Boxing gym. She replaced "will" with "did" - changing the last word of "A Change Is Gonna Come" because for her, change has come.

Two years away from the London Olympics -- which he says could be his last -- Michael Phelps plans to use the next month to gauge his mental and physical readiness. He begins his preparation this weekend by traveling to Irvine, Calif., for the USA Swimming National Championships, which will run Tuesday to Aug. 7. "I think this summer is important for me both for next year, but also leading into London," Phelps said Thursday at the Meadowbrook Aquatic and Fitness Center. "To be able to set up an event program that we can try a couple times before we go to London, and see what works, and see what event program works, I think this is going to see where we stand."

As then-17-year-old Sarah Melanson crossed the finish line of the ChesapeakeMan Ultra Championship early this fall, she couldn't believe what she had just endured. She had swum 2.4 miles through jellyfish-infested waters, had biked 112 miles while battling near-record winds and then, to cap off a 15-hour effort, had run 26.2 miles for a full marathon. "I was like, 'Are you sure I did that?'" Melanson said. "It was completely surreal. I couldn't even believe I had just done it. " Her disbelief was shared by the family members who gathered to watch her finish, long after darkness set on the dimly lit course in Cambridge in Dorchester County.

Paralympics T. McFadden first to win 6 titles at Paralympic world meet Tatyana McFadden of Clarksville has become the first woman to win six world titles in a single International Paralympic Committee Athletics World Championship meet. She went undefeated in the Lyon, France, event, which ended Sunday, winning the preliminaries and finals of the women's 100-, 200-, 400-, 800-, 1500- and 5000-meter T54 wheelchair races Saturday. The Atholton grad set the world record in the 800 , finishing in 1minute, 44.44 seconds.

After parting ways with former coach Fabrice Pellerin last month, swimmer Yannick Agnel has a new home in Baltimore. Agnel, who won three medals at the 2012 Olympics in London, recently moved from his native country of France to begin training at North Baltimore Aquatic Club with new coach Bob Bowman. The 21-year-old swimmer, who came from behind to beat the United States' Ryan Lochte in the anchor leg of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the 2012 Olympics, arrived in Maryland this week and will train with Bowman in the city.

January 1. A dropped pass and a missed field goal keep Joe Flacco and the Ravens out of the Super Bowl. February 2. Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson becomes Mr. Super PAC by pumping millions into Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign. 3. Riots in Athens kick off a year of public unrest over the European debt crisis . March 4. Federal regulators approve Chicago-based Exelon's takeover of Constellation Energy , leaving Baltimore without a Fortune 500 headquarters.

Ever since the two appeared arm in arm on the red carpet at the London Olympics, people have wondered: Who, exactly, is Michael Phelps' new girlfriend? She hasn't been talking with the news media until now. But in an exclusive interview with The Sun, Megan Rossee seems sporty, competitive and quick to laugh at herself. And, yes, she's also a willowy blond model who loves shoes, sweets and marathon viewings of "Sex and the City. " Though it's been widely reported in the media that Rossee is a cocktail waitress, that makes her laugh because she says she worked at Hollywood's Blok nightclub for only about a month to help pay the bills.

There he was, before every major swim in the London Olympics, lost in thought and music pumping from headphones that covered his ears. And now, a clever company wants to sell you a pair of those Michael Phelps headphones. The red, white and blue headphones are available for pre-order on Ebay, through Sol Republic, which has inked a deal with Phelps. The headphones cost $149.99. A portion of the proceeds will to to the Michael Phelps Foundation. "He absolutely loves this brand," his agent Peter Carlisle told ESPN.

Like many Olympic athletes not named Michael Phelps , Suzanne Stettinius is both training and fundraising in these final weeks before the Summer Games. She's made appeals via Facebook and her blog and, next week, will host a party at a Baltimore County tavern where among the auction items will be a date with the athlete herself. A risky proposition for a 24-year-old woman? Maybe, but perhaps not one whose sport involves shooting and fencing and, should flight rather than fight seem advisable, running, swimming and riding a horse.

After parting ways with former coach Fabrice Pellerin last month, swimmer Yannick Agnel has a new home in Baltimore. Agnel, who won three medals at the 2012 Olympics in London, recently moved from his native country of France to begin training at North Baltimore Aquatic Club with new coach Bob Bowman. The 21-year-old swimmer, who came from behind to beat the United States' Ryan Lochte in the anchor leg of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the 2012 Olympics, arrived in Maryland this week and will train with Bowman in the city.

Even before the 2012 London Olympics held its closing ceremonies last night, organizers and politicians were already looking ahead to the next round of bidding to host the games. Toronto is examining whether to throw its hat into the ring for the 2024 summer Olympics, and French President Francois Hollande said that Paris may consider a bid as well. According to The Sun, local businessmen and political figures are also mulling a D.C.-Baltimore bid for the 2024 Olympics. Relying on a study done in 2000 - when the region unsuccessfully bid to host these 2012 Games - supporters claim that bringing the Olympics to the region will provide an economic boost to the area of $6.7 billion (in today's dollars)

By Jean Marbella, The Baltimore Sun and By Jean Marbella, The Baltimore Sun | August 12, 2012

It must be true: All good things indeed must come to an end - a fireworks-strafing, confetti-showering and rock-god-reviving end if you're talking about the Summer Olympics that concluded Sunday. "We lit the flame, and we lit up the world," said Sebastian Coe, head of the organizing committee and an Olympic medalist himself - he won two golds and two silvers in the 1980s. "On this last day, I can finish with these words," he said. "When our time came, Britain, we did it right.